Hillary's claim withdrawn

--BBC--

	Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe

The United State says it has no recent evidence of women being raped while in Sri Lankan government custody.

Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said that the US State Department has issued a clarification on this issue.

The State Department said in a letter that there were no sexual abuse by the Sri Lanka Army during 2006 and 2009 as had happened in other conflict areas, he said.

"The State Department has clarified its position and it is over", Minister Mahinda Samasinghe added.

A letter addressed to Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, the State Department said that the international human rights bodies have recorded various cases of violence against women detained by the authorities including rape and sexual harassment.

No reports

However, Melanne Verveer, ambassador at large for global women’s issues at the State Department, who signed the letter, said that “we (the US) have not received reports that rape and sexual abuse were used as a tool of war”

The US is responding to the protests from Sri Lanka against the recent remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

It was reported that during a resolution calling for an end to sexual violence in armed conflict at the United Nations, US Secretary of State Clinton mentioned Sri Lanka as a country which used rape as a war tactic.